Posted on 01/15/2005 3:02:05 PM PST by Horatio Gates
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Gay activists in this staid Eastern Washington city are planning to create a neighborhood of gay-oriented homes, businesses and nightlife, which religious conservatives complain will be at odds with Spokane's family-oriented culture.
A gay district would signal that Spokane is tolerant and progressive, proponents contend, the type of community that can attract the so-called "creative class" that will build the economy of tomorrow.
"We're talking about an actual physical part of town we would like to establish as a gay district," said Marvin Reguindin, owner of a Spokane graphic design firm, who envisions an area similar to the Castro district of San Francisco or Capitol Hill in Seattle.
Community Impact Spokane, a network of evangelical Christians, is appalled.
"A gay Mecca is not what we'd like to see Spokane marketed as," said Penny Lancaster, director of the group. "I'd rather see us promoted as a conservative, family oriented community without any reference to sexual orientation."
Too late, some say.
"There is a very large gay population here," said Bonnie Aspen, a business owner who arrived with her partner two years ago to escape the congestion of the San Francisco Bay area.
Even though they face little discrimination, gays stay under the radar, said Aspen, a member of the Inland Northwest Business Alliance, an association of gay and gay-friendly businesses that is pushing the idea.
"Visibility equals freedom," Aspen said. "Invisibility we have dealt with all our life."
She predicted a gay district will exist within the next year or two.
Spokane is some 90 percent white, and a gay district will promote the notion that such a community can still be tolerant and have diversity, Aspen said.
The idea arises out of the theories of Richard Florida, an economist whose 2002 book "The Rise of the Creative Class" contends that the economy of the future will be created by the 38 million workers who toil in "creative" industries.
Florida, a Carnegie Mellon University professor, said members of the creative class consider recreation, culture and ethnic diversity, including a large population of gays, as central to where they live. Places like New York, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle have those qualities. Places like Spokane generally do not.
After Florida spoke here a couple of years ago, Spokane civic leaders embraced many of his ideas. They have pushed hard to create a university district and several arts districts near downtown.
Tom Reese, an economic development officer for Spokane, said city government is not exactly pushing the notion of a gay district, but they don't oppose it either.
"It is our desire to create an environment where diversity and different interests and lifestyles of all types can flourish," Reese said.
No public funds will be used to create the district, which is dependent on developers, Aspen said. No location has been announced.
With about 200,000 residents, the city has little history of gay activism, other than an effort a few years ago that added homosexuals as a protected class to its human rights ordinance.
Spokane — which in trendy Seattle is shorthand for tragically unhip — has long been dominated by conservative politics that stem from its history as a mining and farming center. But it also has a large core of Democrats who push for social justice, and libertarians who share the West's live-and-let-live philosophy.
Most of all the city identifies itself as a good place to raise a family. A gay district clashes with that image, opponents contend.
"We are a family-friendly, traditional-values community," said former Mayor John Talbott.
Opponents fear a gay district will attract sexual predators who prey on gays, plus lead to increased crime, drug use and other social ills, Walton Mize, bishop of the Christ Holy Sanctified Church, said.
"Most people don't know about the underbelly of it," Mize said. "It's a culture based upon sex."
Aspen rejected the notion that a gay district will bring social problems to Spokane.
"I can't see why they think they will have more of that than is already here," Aspen said.
Spokane already has a gay newspaper, Stonewall News Northwest, and some businesses that cater to gay residents. It has had an openly gay member of the City Council.
But creating a district is still important, Reguindin said.
"It would help youth struggling with their sexuality to realize they don't have to go away to a big city to be gay. You can be gay right here in Spokane," Reguindin said.
Farand Gunnels, local representative for the Pride Foundation, a Seattle-based group that gives grants to support the gay community, wondered if there were enough gay residents in Spokane to support such a district.
The INBA is also preparing to launch a "visibility campaign," in which businesses will be asked to display signs in their windows proclaiming their support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
"We'll know where we will be welcome and patronize those businesses," Aspen said. "We've had a very positive reaction from the business community."
Gay customers will be able to leave special cards at businesses they patronize, to let the owners know they were there, Aspen said.
"It will give Spokane an idea of the economic impact gay people have," Aspen said.
I'd consider that a badge of honor.
Ping.
Wellll, isn't that special.
You wrote:
I'd consider that a badge of honor.
That's what I was thinking...
Sounds like segregation and "disenfranchisement(to use the libs bestest new word)" of non-gays.
After I thought for a minute, it probably has only back doors.
Will there be a competition to name this new area?
First, they go out of their way to brand themselves as The Other, then they complain when they are treated as The Other.
Maybe they just like to whine.
nothing like a little queer anti-hetero bigotry in community planning
"Gay Oriented Home" sounds like a building code violation to me.
What is a "gay oriented home"?
No front doors, only backdoors.
You can be gay right here in Spokane,"
Hmmmm, no mention of HIV.
LMAO
If homosexuals have any real interest in their own safety and security, they would realize the folly of such a move.
A geographically defined area for homosexuals would be an easy target for those that would do them physical harm...for whatever reason or motivation. I agree with the assesment of opponents to this that it would create a high crime area. This would tax the law enforcement agencies in the area. It is not a wise move - regardless of how one views homosexuality.
I don't know why it's necessary to plant a flag in a particular neighborhood. Just live, like everybody else.
Red Light District
Reminds me of the old (pre-1980) sign that used to hang in the window of Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood: "No dogs or fags allowed." Pressure groups finally forced them to take the sign down, of course, and the whole character of the place was changed shortly after that.
Aids= Anal Induced Death Syndrome
My opinion is that they feel the more they get in the pubic's face, and the more the public gives them what they want, the more power they gain and the more legitimacy they feel they achieve.
Fantastic idea. I'm all for establishing as many sodomite magents as possible.... on the other side of the country from me.
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